You Know Who, You Know Them, and You Know Where
by secret agent
Summary: It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch... Rating may change


A/N: Alright, this is the first chapter of the rewrite to my first HP story, and I think it's already ten times better than the original. I actually have a plot this time, and the chapters won't be excruciatingly short anymore. For any of you who don't know, the other was titled the same, but it was written pretty pathetically. I took it down because it no longer accurately reflects my writing ability, not to mention, it wasn't exactly any good. Let me know what you think.

You Know Who, You Know Them, and You Know Where

Chapter One: Sirius' Return

_"It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch…."_

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Sirius landed on something quite hard. He was in a cramped sort of space, with little room to maneuver; however, there was what seemed to be a passageway looming in front of him. He stood up and shook himself off. _Well, best be on my way, then. Can't keep everyone worrying, now can I?_ He lit up the tip of his wand with a quick "_Lumos_" and inched his way along the narrow passage. Just as he began his trek through the crevice, he heard a voice, seemingly far away, yet so near. It was a familiar voice; a voice he hadn't heard in many long years, yet he couldn't quite place it. Perhaps it had just been too long since he'd last heard it. Then, another voice spoke, the words inaudible. This voice was also familiar. _Who can this be? I know this voice, so why can't I remember whose it is?_ More voices mingled into the two, all barely above whispers. _Am I imagining this? Is this some sort of dream?_

He continued along the path, trying to get the voices out of his head. Their words, though inaudible, echoed across his mind. He shook his long, dark hair out of his face, trying to clear his head. _I must be imagining this. Perhaps I have finally gone mad. Moony always said I was bound to crack sometime…._ As he squeezed himself through a tiny space, he vaguely wondered why he wasn't too worried about the people fighting up beyond the veil. His thoughts slowly turned to his godson. _How's he doing, I wonder. Hope he's okay. _He remembered with a jolt just how he'd ended up in this miniscule space in the first place. _She'd_ knocked him down through the tattered veil. _She_ was probably laughing her head off, thinking she'd finally killed her most hated cousin. Yes, Bellatrix Lestrange would be thrilled if he never found his way out of his new sort of prison. _Well, Harry can take her. At least, I hope so. _

Sirius Black, the first convict known to escape the Azkaban fortress, was stuck. Unfortunately, it wasn't a metaphorical sort of 'stuck.' No, he'd managed to get himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, namely another rock. He'd been wandering through this underground passageway for what seemed like days, though he couldn't be sure since the only light came from the tip of his wand. The passage probably hadn't been used in centuries, and even then it was probably only used by house-elves or goblins. Anything larger would get itself stuck, just as Sirius had. Though he hadn't exactly feasted every day for the last three years, and not even the last year where he'd had the opportunity, he was still quite bony. He _should _have been able to fit through this space, but apparently he'd assumed wrong. He extinguished his wand and tried a spell to make the space larger. It grew about a centimeter larger. He tried again, with the same result. He continued this for a while, until he finally managed to get through. He relit his wand and continued in the narrow space. _Good thing I'm not claustrophobic,_ he thought sullenly. _That would make this nightmare-ish trip about a thousand times worse._ His journey continued for hours, though to him, it felt like much longer. He finally decided to take a break and catch his breath.

He'd finally managed to be rid of the voices a few days earlier, at least by his reckoning. He couldn't have slept, even if he'd tried. They'd been haunting him incessantly until he'd finally just screamed for them to stop. Of course, this only stopped them for a while, and they'd eventually come back. He'd gotten completely rid of them by singing to himself while he was walking. He made up songs, since he only knew a few, and they'd gotten quite boring after about the tenth time through.

Sirius sat down on a displaced rock in the middle of the path. He hadn't seen anything living throughout his residence. There was little air, no water, and the only hope for survival was making it to the other end- assuming there _was_ another end. His thoughts turned toward the odd sense of calm he felt. _Perhaps some outside source is making me feel this way. I certainly don't see how it's possible to feel calm in such a dismal place, unless of course, you're a rat._ He stood up before his thoughts could go much further. Thinking about rats led, inevitably, only to one topic: a specific rat, a rat he'd trusted, and who'd betrayed not only him, but his closest and dearest friends also….

He continued through this narrow space for what seemed like ages, until he finally began to see a little beam of light in front of him. _The exit! Has to be!_ Sirius made his way through the last leg of his journey rather quickly, considering he was aching from head to toe, and running on nothing but adrenaline and strength of will. The crack through which the beam protruded was too small for him to squeeze through without some use of force. So, knowing that, he extinguished his wand once more and blasted his way through the crack…

…Only to find himself in an oddly familiar place. He saw, in the center of the room, a statue, rather, what remained of a once-glorious golden statue. In fact, it was a statue he'd seen before. He could only be in one place… The Ministry of Magic.

Just as he stepped through the crack into the main lobby, he saw the man he least wanted to see. Cornelius Fudge, the minister for magic, was chatting with a desk secretary. He seemed slightly flustered, and Sirius did his best to avoid being seen. Sirius ducked behind the remains of the statue just as someone shouted, "It's Sirius Black! He's back!" It wasn't an altogether too friendly voice that shouted, either. It was that stupid secretary. Fudge turned around and spotted him just as he was running toward the exit. Fudge attempted to stop him with a hasty "_Petrificus Totalus!_" but Sirius was too quick for him. He dodged the spell and fired back with "_Expelliarmus!_" Fudge barely managed to dodge, but instead of firing a counter-attack, he allowed the Aurors who had just arrived on-scene to deal with the problem.

_Well, I can't exactly turn into a dog right now, _Sirius thought as he was using every spell in his arsenal and running away from the blasts from the aurors. _It wouldn't do to have them know about my illegal Animagus abilities, on top of them suspecting me for the murders of thirteen muggles and my friend James Potter and his wife, Lily. Best not give them more evidence against me. Now if only I could capture that stupid rat…._

"Halt, Mr. Black! You're under arrest!" one of the Aurors shouted after him. He turned to look at who said it, but it was a poor choice, as he was then stunned with another auror's spell. He was unable to move, and now the Ministry had him once more. On the positive side, it wouldn't do much good to send him back to Azkaban, considering all the Dementors had run off to join Voldemort. Even if they did send him back, he'd escaped once before, he could do it again.

And so, Sirius Black, although alive and well, was caught once more by the Ministry and sent back to the dreadful prison in the coldest sea, Azkaban.


End file.
